Workshop on Crisis Mass-Communication

On thursday last week, I ran a workshop on Crisis Mass-Communication. The workshop was part of an EU-project with SOS-alarm (The National 112-Dispatch Organization) and MSB (Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency) as primary participants. A key reflection is the dynamics and also complexity to talk about the possibilities of a future system while at the same time not get stuck in aspects of how crisis response is organized today. An important tool in such discussion could perhaps be a transition model where workshop participants can see a smooth link between present and future. In general when we have design workshops, with students and professionals, we tend to become colored, too much, of what exists today and the problems we experience today. The focus should instead be on what works today and how can we leverage the mechanisms of what works and reinforce those properties for the future solution. To balance between what exists and what could exists is a fun but complex task.